INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Penn State football was all but leveled Monday by an NCAA ruling that wiped away 14 years of coach Joe Paterno's victories and imposed a mountain of fines and penalties, crippling a program whose pedophile assistant coach spent uncounted years molesting children, sometimes on university property.

The sanctions by the governing body of college sports, which capped eight months of turmoil on the central Pennsylvania campus, stopped short of delivering the ''death penalty'' of shutting down the sport. But the NCAA hit Penn State with $60 million in fines, ordered it out of the postseason for four years, and will cap scholarships at 20 below the normal limit for four years. The school also will be on probation for five years.

Any current or incoming football players are free to immediately transfer and compete at another school.

''Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people,'' NCAA President Mark Emmert said as he announced the penalties at a news conference in Indianapolis.

The sanctions all stem from the case of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted last month of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years. An investigation commissioned by the school and released July 12 found that Paterno, who died in January, and several other top officials at Penn State stayed quiet about accusations against Sandusky in 1998 and 2001.

The NCAA ruling holds the entire school community accountable for failing to protect children.

''Against this backdrop, Penn State accepts the penalties and corrective actions announced today by the NCAA,'' Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a statement. ''With today's announcement and the action it requires of us, the University takes a significant step forward.''

The Big Ten announced that Penn State would not be allowed to share in the conference's bowl revenue during the NCAA's postseason ban, an estimated loss of about $13 million. And the NCAA reserved the right to add additional penalties.

Emmert fast-tracked penalties rather than go through the usual circuitous series of investigations and hearings. The NCAA said the $60 million is equivalent to the annual gross revenue of the football program. The money must be paid into an endowment for external programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims and may not be used to fund such programs at Penn State.

By vacating 112 Penn State victories from 1998-2011, the sanctions cost Paterno 111 wins. Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden will now hold the top spot in the NCAA record book with 377 major-college wins. Paterno, who was fired days after Sandusky was charged, will be credited with 298 wins.

The scholarship reductions mean Penn State's roster will be capped at 65 scholarship players beginning in 2014. The normal scholarship limit for major college football programs is 85. Playing with 20 less is devastating to a program that tries to compete at the highest level of the sport.

In comparison, the harsh NCAA sanctions placed upon USC several years ago left the Trojans with only 75 scholarships per year over a three-year period.

The postseason ban is the longest handed out by the NCAA since it gave a four-year ban to Indiana football in 1960.

Bill O'Brien, who was hired to replace Paterno, now faces the daunting task of building future teams with severe limitations, and trying to keep current players from fleeing to other schools. Star players such as tailback Silas Redd and linebacker Gerald Hodges are now essentially free agents.

''I knew when I accepted the position that there would be tough times ahead,'' O'Brien said. ''But I am committed for the long term to Penn State and our student athletes.''

Players left a team meeting on campus in State College, Pa., without talking to reporters. Penn State's season starts Sept. 1 at home against Ohio University.

The sanctions came a day after the school took down the statue of Paterno that stood outside Beaver Stadium and was a rallying point for the coaches' supporters throughout the scandal.

At a student union on campus, several dozen alumni and students gasped, groaned and whistled as they watched Emmert's news conference.

''It was kind of just like a head shaker,'' said Matt Bray, an 18-year-old freshman from West Chester, Pa. ''You knew it was coming, but it was hard to hear.''

Emmert had earlier said he had ''never seen anything as egregious'' as the horrific crimes of Sandusky and the cover-up by Paterno and others at the university, including former Penn State President Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley.

The Penn State investigation headed by former FBI Director Louis Freeh said school officials kept what they knew from police and other authorities for years, enabling the abuse to go on.

There had been calls across the nation for Penn State to receive the ''death penalty,'' and Emmert had not ruled out that possibility as late as last week - though Penn State did not fit the criteria for it. That punishment is for teams that commit a major violation while already being sanctioned.

''This case is obviously incredibly unprecedented in every aspect of it,'' Emmert said, ''as are these actions that we're taking today.''

Penn State football under Paterno was built on - and thrived upon - the premise that it did things the right way. That it was not a football factory where only wins and losses determined success. Every major college football program tries to send that message, but Penn State built its brand on it.

Paterno's ''Grand Experiment'' was about winning with integrity, graduating players and sending men into the world ready to succeed in life, not just football. But he still won a lot - a record-setting 409 victories.

The NCAA had never sanctioned, or seriously investigated Penn State. Few, if any, national powers could make that claim.

Southern California, Ohio State, Alabama, all have run afoul of the NCAA. Even Notre Dame went on probation for two years after a booster lavished gifts on players in the 1990s.

The harshest penalty handed down to a football program came in the '80s, when the NCAA shut down SMU's team for a year. SMU football has never gotten back to the level of success it had before the ''death penalty.''

On a side note. Does Penn State have any players UofM should take off their hands?

July 23rd, 2012, 12:19 pm

Blueskies

Player of the Year - Offense

Joined: September 13th, 2007, 12:43 pmPosts: 2862

Re: Penn State got whacked.

Wasn't nearly severe enough. They basically gave them the same punishment as USC, just a little bit worse.

Ultimately, I think Penn St is doomed with or without any direct sanctions.

If you were a top college player, would you want to go to a school that harbored a pedophile? Can you imagine going on the road to like an SEC? Drunk college kids yelling pedophile at you? No thanks.

July 23rd, 2012, 9:01 pm

WarEr4Christ

QB Coach

Joined: October 26th, 2005, 11:48 pmPosts: 3039Location: Elkhart, In.

Re: Penn State got whacked.

People are short sighted and this will blow over in a few years and they'll get back to being a University. Their program won't recover for a long while, but it will only be a blip on the radar.

_________________2 Chronicles 10:14, "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

July 24th, 2012, 1:59 pm

wjb21ndtown

Re: Penn State got whacked.

I don't agree with your thread title. To say that they got "whacked" makes it sound like they got an unfair punishment. I think they got exactly what they deserved. Joe Pa deserved to have those wins vacated, and that statue removed. What those guys did over there was nothing short of disgusting. That said, I LOVE that the NCAA did the right thing and didn't punish the people that had nothing do with it, and gave the athletes an "out."

I don't agree with your thread title. To say that they got "whacked" makes it sound like they got an unfair punishment. I think they got exactly what they deserved. Joe Pa deserved to have those wins vacated, and that statue removed. What those guys did over there was nothing short of disgusting. That said, I LOVE that the NCAA did the right thing and didn't punish the people that had nothing do with it, and gave the athletes an "out."

I don't Know how you figure that I think it was an unfair punishment just because I said they got whacked. I think they deserved the death penalty. But, this is effectively the death penalty without calling it a death penalty.Penn State Football will never recover from this in our lifetimes. State Farm Insurance has already announced they are pulling all in stadium and radio and TV advertising. Several other advertisers are considering following suit. Add the loss of all that revenue plus the $60M fine, that's a whole lot of loss. They are effectively a division 3 football team now.

July 24th, 2012, 9:36 pm

The Legend

Off. Coordinator – Joe Lombardi

Joined: February 11th, 2005, 3:01 pmPosts: 4030Location: WSU

Re: Penn State got whacked.

i disagree with the statement that "they didnt punish the people that werent involved"

they are punishing any alumni of Penn State, they are punishing the new coaching staff. they are punishing the Big 10. they are punishing any player committed to the Penn state football program. just because they get to go to another school as a free agent doesnt take away the fact that they no longer get to have a decent college football experience at the school that they picked as there top choice. when does college football season start? 5 weeks from now? so they spend 1.5 years or more evaluating schools, etc and all of a sudden they have what 10-14 days at most to decide on transferring somewhere else? what about the other athletic teams at penn st that depend on football revenues so that they can even see the field? doesnt seem fair to me.

i understand pulling the paterno statue, pulling his name down off of school libraries, etc for symbolic reasons but this is a school destroyed by a monster - Sandusky and I think that fact is being overshadowed by the large punishments to the university.

July 25th, 2012, 8:33 pm

Blueskies

Player of the Year - Offense

Joined: September 13th, 2007, 12:43 pmPosts: 2862

Re: Penn State got whacked.

The university deserved to get whacked.

First, Penn State itself benefited from the cover up. If it had been exposed 10 years ago, the punishment wouldn't have been as severe, but the university still would've suffered -- hence the reason they covered it up in the first place.

Second, and more importantly, the larger trend here is that it is evident that football had gotten too large at Penn State -- even trumping common human decency. Like an addict that can't handle alcohol, the best thing to do is take it away. To be fair, other schools are probably just as bad (if not worse) but Penn State was where things really went off the rails.

As for the innocent current players -- sucks. Life isn't fair. They can transfer penalty free and if they're any decent they will be able to start elsewhere.

July 25th, 2012, 9:28 pm

The Legend

Off. Coordinator – Joe Lombardi

Joined: February 11th, 2005, 3:01 pmPosts: 4030Location: WSU

Re: Penn State got whacked.

maybe UM could pick up a running back from them now that Toussaint is suspended?

July 26th, 2012, 12:51 am

wjb21ndtown

Re: Penn State got whacked.

The Legend wrote:

i disagree with the statement that "they didnt punish the people that werent involved"

they are punishing any alumni of Penn State, they are punishing the new coaching staff. they are punishing the Big 10. they are punishing any player committed to the Penn state football program. just because they get to go to another school as a free agent doesnt take away the fact that they no longer get to have a decent college football experience at the school that they picked as there top choice. when does college football season start? 5 weeks from now? so they spend 1.5 years or more evaluating schools, etc and all of a sudden they have what 10-14 days at most to decide on transferring somewhere else? what about the other athletic teams at penn st that depend on football revenues so that they can even see the field? doesnt seem fair to me.

i understand pulling the paterno statue, pulling his name down off of school libraries, etc for symbolic reasons but this is a school destroyed by a monster - Sandusky and I think that fact is being overshadowed by the large punishments to the university.

I can't agree that the "Alumni" is getting punished for this. It's not like their degrees are worthless or their losing their jobs over this. The new coaching staff deserves to get punished. You can't let the institution off Scott free just because the old staff is gone. They know what they're getting into, and they're getting opportunities that they wouldn't have otherwise gotten. Their new HC is a guy that most top universities wouldn't have hired any how. He's getting a job, not a punishment.

The current athletes have been given an "out," and they deserve it. If they want to stay then they're "choosing" to take a punishment that isn't directed toward them. It's more of a self-imposed "hunger strike" than a punishment. They can leave and most likely go to a better school if they don't want to stay there.

July 26th, 2012, 4:49 pm

The Legend

Off. Coordinator – Joe Lombardi

Joined: February 11th, 2005, 3:01 pmPosts: 4030Location: WSU

Re: Penn State got whacked.

O brien was being mentioned for possible NFL jobs, he couldnt get another university job? this doesnt punish sandusky and it doesnt help the victims. sandusky wasnt even a coach at penn state anymore when most of this except the 1998 recorded phone call went down, the overwhelming majority of his contact with the victims came from second mile rather than penn state football.

i would think something more like taxing penn state football revenues and giving that money either to victims families or to some kind of fund/charity/organization to prevent/educate/care for victims of abuse would be more meaningful than the punishment rendered.

July 26th, 2012, 5:23 pm

wjb21ndtown

Re: Penn State got whacked.

The Legend wrote:

O brien was being mentioned for possible NFL jobs, he couldnt get another university job? this doesnt punish sandusky and it doesnt help the victims. sandusky wasnt even a coach at penn state anymore when most of this except the 1998 recorded phone call went down, the overwhelming majority of his contact with the victims came from second mile rather than penn state football.

i would think something more like taxing penn state football revenues and giving that money either to victims families or to some kind of fund/charity/organization to prevent/educate/care for victims of abuse would be more meaningful than the punishment rendered.

The victims will win a MASSIVE civil suit that results in tens of millions of dollars. It will be an ADDITIONAL punishment to Penn St.

I don't think it matters that Sandusky wasn't actively working at PSU when all of this happened. It started while he was working at PSU, PSU knew about it, and PSU continued to give him unfettered access to children and their locker-room. That's absolutely disgusting.

And again, being mentioned for an NFL job and accepting the PSU job are two different things. 1) he's probably making more money at PSU than anywhere else he was offered a job at, 2) he knows he's safe with almost zero success for the next 5-7 years, 3) he CHOOSE the job knowing full well that they were going to get sanctioned heavily.

Again, this isn't a punishment to the new HC, if anything it's a huge safety net.